


It's What's Inside That Counts for an Aftermath

by GimbleGamble



Series: Mac and Cheese Royalty AU [1]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi, Non-Traditional Relationship Dynamics, Pining, Sort of medieval au sort of not, it's complicated? but tbh let's not think too hard about it, more character tags to be added as the story progresses I suppose, oh fantasy elements as well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 14:40:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30141072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GimbleGamble/pseuds/GimbleGamble
Summary: After the fall of the Mad King his four heirs try to repair the relationships they have with their neighboring kingdoms.Well that's what they're trying to do anyways. Now, if Iskall could justfindthe prince that would begreat.
Relationships: Mumskall - Relationship, ships yes
Series: Mac and Cheese Royalty AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2218413
Kudos: 9





	It's What's Inside That Counts for an Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After nearly suffering from a heart attack Iskall thinks about muffins, foreign diplomats, and what to pack for a three week trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legitimately thought of giving this the title "Context Clues: The Aftermath of a Story Untold" because I think I'm funny sometimes

* * *

Iskall knew that everything's fine but he can't quite shake off the icy chill of worry clawing at his back.

 _Era of peace_ , he reminded himself. Relations with the neighboring countries were on the mend. Nothing bad has happened recently, and nothing will, not if he has any say about it.

Hallway after hallway searching room after room, he stomped along the halls of the castle trying hard not to show just how panicked he was. It doesn't help that everyone he passed shot him an amused smile as if they knew exactly what had happened.

They probably do, it's the fifth time this month after all.

His hurried pace gets stopped by a heavy hand on his arm and he jolts, he must've been deep in thought because he didn't even notice it coming. He whirled around to find Beef, one of the castle's head cooks, he had a beaming, if a little mischievous, smile on his face.

"You didn't hear this from me, but I got an order for muffins and ice cream with a side of cookies to be delivered to the third floor gardens" He winked and sauntered off as quickly as he came giving Iskall no chance to thank the man. Still, he appreciates the tip and heads for the nearest staircase.

Ugh stairs. He minded his steps, the uneven blend of the old stone and the newer quartz made for unsteady footing and while he has to admit that it stitched the old and the new very well, he couldn't count how many times people tripped on them.

He arrives at the third floor gardens, one of the larger ones in the castle, and looks around like his life depended on it. He spots a shock of black hair hiding (poorly) by the bushes and the worry dissipates immediately. Iskall half runs and half stomps towards it, heart rate already returning to normal.

"Your highness!" he calls and watches as the head tries to duck out of view to no avail. Iskall snorts and walks all the way to stand beside the offending bush "your highnessssss"

"I told you not to call me that Iskall" Mumbo whines, brushing off the leaves that stuck in his hair.

"I'll stop calling you that the moment you stop disappearing under my watch" he shoots back as he crosses his arms in front of his chest. Mumbo rolls his eyes.

"and I'll stop disappearing under your watch if you lot stop treating me like a child, I'm literally a grown adult!" he huffs, Iskall's gaze turns to the half eaten bowl of ice cream with cookie bits on top, then back to Mumbo who's face turned considerably redder. "I _am_ older than you, you know" he mutters.

“Ah yes, you've definitely made sure of that" Iskall snorted, trying his hardest not to fully laugh out loud at the prince. Mumbo waves the comment off and pulls out his notebook.

"Anyways come sit with me and tell me what you think" Mumbo pats the grass beside him.

Iskall hesitates and looks around to see if anyone else was near, would it be considered rude to just _sit_ next to the prince? After all these years he still wasn’t sure. He gets yanked down and he falls on his butt with a huff. Before he could complain a muffin was shoved into his hand.

He froze, feeling the traitorous creep of red on his face, doubling as he realized just how close they were to each other. Thankfully Mumbo was wholly unaware as he rambled on about his new theoretical redstone schematic, pointing at the diagrams on his notebook.

Iskall bites his tongue and prays to any of the gods watching that the warmth on his face gets washed down by a few bites of the blueberry muffin in his hand.

* * *

Walking into the wrong place at the wrong time seemed to be one of Mumbo’s many talents. Iskall observed as the prince got locked into an impromptu pleasantry exchange with foreign diplomats as they went down a particularly busy hallway.

Well… Iskall assumed they were foreign diplomats anyways, should he have known? Dammit maybe he should’ve paid more attention.

Still, seeing Mumbo be so _formal_ as he interacted with them always catches Iskall off-guard. It’s always such a bizarre experience, he feels like he'll never get used to it.

The Prince Mumbo he knows is usually so clumsy and cheerful, the way his eyes would light up as he rambles about this and that (and boy can the prince _ramble_ ), how easy it was for him to laugh and make the people around him laugh. Endearing in a lot of different ways.

It honestly feels like a completely different person. Every move is regal and captivating, there's an underlying confidence there that demands respect, you just can't take your eyes off him.

It's just so far off from how Iskall usually sees him and it makes him think of how different Mumbo would be if he was King.

* * *

"Have you… never really thought about being the King?" The question accidentally slipped out of Iskall's mouth and he internally smacked himself on the face for speaking out of turn. Mumbo hummed, thumbing through the third book in the pile.

"Despite everything?" he smiled "Nah, never thought about it"

"why?" fuck it we're feeling curious today I guess, Iskall braced himself but Mumbo just laughed.

"Iskall how long have we known each other? Do you really think I'm fit to rule a whole kingdom?" he snickers and opens up another book.

Iskall held his tongue. He wanted to say yes, he's known Mumbo for most of his life and he'd happily say yes.

But.

He supposes that if Mumbo did become king, moments like these, loitering around the empty library on their downtime, spending time together, it would be a lot less common.

Iskall's gaze wandered to where Mumbo was sitting, chin resting on his hand as he turned the pages of the book, the sun's rays filtering through the windows made his prince look angelic.

Yeah, Iskall wouldn't trade this for the world.

Wait- what did he just call Mumbo? 

Before he could think too hard on it, the doors of the library swung open, jolting him into standing straight and alert. They didn’t need to see who it was as the rustle of heavy armor basically told them everything they needed to know. It was False, the King’s own royal guard, striding in with purpose making a beeline towards Mumbo.

With a hand on her chest she bowed her head in respect.

"Your highness, the King requires your attendance" she announced curtly, Mumbo sighed and closed the books in front of him.

"Duty calls Iskall"

* * *

Being in the throne room always unnerved Iskall. Don’t get him wrong, it was beautifully decorated, all high arches and big stained glass windows, everyone did a fantastic job rebuilding it especially given the damage it took. But he still bristles, and as they walk towards the throne, he could claim that it has something to do with the intimidating presence currently sitting in it.

"You needed me Cleo?"

But just like that the intimidating aura disperses from the room as the King jumps up to greet Mumbo. She grabs him into an enthusiastic bone-crushing hug, ruffling his hair by the end.

"Mumbo! my sweet sweet brother I need you to do something for meeeeee" She grinned, Iskall could almost feel the groan that the prince was holding back. “See, we just got out of a meeting with the diplomats of our neighboring kingdom, as you do...” She gestures behind her towards the Queen, happily waving back at them with her trademark smile, and False, who took her usual position by the throne.

“Oh no” this time the groan does make it out of Mumbo’s throat as he rubbed his face. The King placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.

“hey, no don’t be like that!” Cleo huffed in mock annoyance “they’ve just invited us over to complete the trading route agreement treaty thingy! And since _we_ can’t leave Macremonia just yet we need to have a representative!”

"Can Keralis not take this one?" he pleaded, Cleo gasped and squished his face in between her palms.

"Mumbo Jumbo you know you're the only one I can count on when it comes to this!" she pinched his cheeks “Besides! I’m pretty sure you've been wanting to visit this place ever since you’ve heard about it~" she sang, waggling her eyebrows for the full effect.

Mumbo froze, his eyes widening as realization dawned on him.

"Wait, you mean-"

Cleo smirks at the flabbergasted expression on his face and pulls out the letter adorned with the royal seal from her robe. She turned it toward him and watched as excitement filled his eyes.

"the _redstone_ **_capital_ ** baby!" she announced. She hands it to Mumbo who took it so gently you’d think it was some fragile, irreplaceable treasure.

" _oh my word_ "

"You’d better get packing Mumbo" Cleo grins “The ship leaves in three days!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have this problem of casually referencing things that only exist in my brain, usually to the confusion of anyone near enough to be listening to me (≧▽≦) but then I was all, can we write something utilizing that maybe? And this idea was born. Not gonna lie though babes I'm pretty excited about where this train is going.
> 
> Oh also the title? I don't even know, I might think of a better one in the future ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯.


End file.
